Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Keenath 09-16-06, 07:44 PM	I have a proposed houserule, and I want to see if anyone can find any massive problems with it. I'll explain the house rule, then discuss the logic behind it. House Rule: Flop the effects of wearing Medium and Heavy armors (and carrying medium or heavy loads). Medium armor does not decrease your base speed, but reduce running to x3 (or x4 with the run feat). Heavy armor reduces your base speed as per the charts. Reasoning: As written, Medium armor is the unwanted stepchild of the equipment list. You could *just about* remove it from the game and nobody would notice. The reason is obvious; Medium armor has all the most important penalties of wearing heavy armor and doesn't protect as well. Normally you either want heavy armor or light armor (due to armor check, proficiency, or class ability limitations). Low level warrior or clerical types sometimes use medium armor, but only until they get the cash for "real" armor. Druids sometimes use Hide armor, but, in my experience, they usually end up using Leather instead, because one point of AC isn't worth it. The Barbarian is the only core class that ends up really wanting to use medium armor, because it doesn't interfere with their class features, and even they often dump it in favor of light armor that won't remove their speed advantage. By switching the run and walk penalties around, medium becomes a more attractive option for characters who want something better than a chain shirt, but still value their mobility. Wouldn't that be something -- to see high-level fighters wearing medium armor? With this rule in place, you still wear light armor if you have class abilities that would be inhibited by anything heavier; you still wear light if you're worried about your armor check. But if neither of those are issues and you have the proficiency for it, going to medium is an attractive option.
Patrick Draken-Korin 09-16-06, 10:30 PM	Actually I've seen this mentioned on the boards before; seems like a good idea to me. I can't see anything wrong with tat houserule, though I've never implemented it in any of my games, nor played when it was implemented by anyone else. You may wish to suggest this or discuss it on the unearthed arcana forums. It applies to that area as equally as it does to equipment, and there may be others who can reply better than myself there.
Keenath 09-19-06, 01:02 AM	Anyone else have an opinion?
Malakai_Demonos 09-19-06, 01:18 AM	Well, I see no problem with it. I've also seen people avoid medium armor, it's usually only heavy or light. However, as far as barbarians go, they usually just get mithril heavy armor, it counts as medium for all purposes. Making it to where medium armor has no speed penalty, isn't a big change and it won't chang things too much. Except for remember this, how often does a group of PCs actually run? Just how often do you put your PCs in a position where they have to run for their life? I make them do so every so often.
Keenath 09-19-06, 02:39 PM	Just how often do you put your PCs in a position where they have to run for their life? I make them do so every so often.Well, while I understand that, I don't think Medium really deserves a major penalty to it -- it's only worth like 1 point of AC over Light armor, so it isn't worth having if it's gonna inhibit you a lot. Even with the Mithral thing, well... in my games, mithral does not reduce the necessary proficiency feat, but it does affect your speed, armor check, and class feature limitations. With that rule, mithral heavy armor isn't usually worth the cost because the run speed thing is a minor limitation to start with. But mithral heavy armor allowing you to move full speed? That sounds like a good reason to buy special materials.
Bulletproof_Condom 09-19-06, 05:36 PM	I'm Bulletproof Condom, and I approve this houserule.